Rust repairs done, but the engine bay still looks a bit minging here. You should be able to make out the bulkhead reinforcement for the Group A pedal box too:
I have never been particularly impressed with the standard gear shift in the RS2000. The linkage always goes sloppy, the boxes themselves only get less common, and the mounts are also a bit cack. The ratios are also pretty hopeless for rallying, meaning you never really get beyond third gear. So, the solution? Ditch it! Instead, I am using another MTX75 gearbox, but from a Focus. Now, a couple of people told me that this wasn't actually possible, and that it would foul the chassis rail unless I used the Escort bellhousing. There was only way to find out, so I bought a Focus box, bolted to the RS engine and tried to put the whole lot in. The standard engine mount was ditched in favour of a Group A version that mounts to the chassis rail so, with this fitted, I could test the engine with the Focus box. Did it hit the chassis rail? Did it hell. It fits perfectly, so I don't know why people had told me it wouldn't fit. Of course, the Focus box uses totally different mounts, so the chassis rail required a fabricated clevis, which you can see in the picture below. I need to finish welding up the gearbox side of the mount, and fabricate the lower mount too. Some might question the value of this conversion, but the boxes are ten-a-penny, I can keep my Quaife diff, and also the shift is much nicer in my view. I can also move the gear lever around and get it a bit higher and closer to the steering wheel. But, the big advantage really is that the Focus is popular in the US, meaning there are lots of parts available. A company over there can provide a revised third, fourth and fifth gear that shortens the gear ratios substantially and should make the car go a bit better. It's only around £650, much better than the £1600 that Quaife charge for their synchro gear kit.
The picture should give you a clue that, with this all done, I could get busy with the spray gun and make things look a bit better under the bonnet:
